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Bad moult

My little guy is going though a bad moult to the point I've seen him pulling the feathers out himself and his skin looks red under his feather. Sadly can't get a photo as I do not want to try and catch him when he is like this. I have gotten moultone to help him out putting his water as it instructs but was wondering if there is anything I can also do to help him out i'm kinda worried with the way his skin looks under his feathers but not sure if that is normal or not.

Re: Bad moult

This is not molt time so that is worrying. Unless something in his diet or environment changed, usually a lighting change, again or something environmental, they should not be molting now. Most times this can be two things, one is self mutilation do to stress or acting out, but most likely from something affecting him, biggest culprit is usually mites. Look around very closely to see for anything moving, they're tiny so you may have to look closely. The best way is take him in hand and pull out his wings so you can look them over well. You will know, usually in a small case you will see them, in a bad case you will have them crawling on you. Mites, the worst kind red mites, hide during the day and come out at night. Take some tape, any kind and place it under the cage grates sticky side up. The next morning look to see if any came out and walked across the tape and got stuck. The best product for this is AIL/Avian Insect Liquidator. You can spray everything down and it kills on contact and leave s a residue that will continue to kill. Do it and then do it again ever 2 weeks for a few months. This product can fall on the bird with no problem, and cause no harm, but you obviously don't want to soak the bird. Protect the food and water though, don't get it in those. If you see any you will/must treat the area as described, then also the bird themselves with a mite/lice product, but make sure you have them first.

If it isn't mites, only thing left is extremely dry skin. This occurs in birds who are housed in a home where the heat is being used heavily. Heat dry's them out just like it does us. In severe cases and also ones with a bird more sensitive, (hey they are all like us, we all different some get dry skin some don't) give him a bath, allow him to bath, and a few drops of aloe in it helps, but just a bath really helps.

Re: Bad moult

The kind of cage I have doesn't have cage grates it's a pull out tray but no grate over it... I got a hold of him today checked him over and treated him for mites just to be on the safe side and cleaned out the cage with the cage cleaning spry I have to be on safe side. I had to put him into the little travel box I got him in while treated the cage as I've no other way of holding him so he wasn't happy with me....

The thing you said about dry skin might be the problem as there is an offices space below my flat that always have the heat on so I don't really need the heat on myself... I'm going to start setting his bath on the cage each day just to be on the safe side so he can bath if he wants or not, i'll chill the water a little before hooking it onto the side of the cage.

Re: Bad moult

You'll be amazed at three things in respect to baths;
1- They absolutely love them. (Some don't take to it, rare but true, but they will when they figure it out) You will laugh at how most simply look like kids in a fountain, just having a real good go at it.
2- It makes their skin and feathers so much healthier as well as themselves. It cleans them, sooths them, and when done they preen with the use of their preening glad, really adds luster from their own oils from the glad.
3- Lastly you'd be amazed at how most love it when the water is very cool even cold, meaning at a temperature we like to drink a cold drink. Just always make sure they are dry before bedtime. Usually no worries, if you leave the bath in 100% of the time, you'll notice they bath in the morning after waking up.

Re: Bad moult

Yes I noticed he likes to have his bath in the morning more than the evening... It's fun to watch some times he does his best to get me wet also once he is preening himself just like a little kid splashing the water. Right now i'm saving up for a new cage for him going to cost around £80 but it's taller than the one he is in doing so to make it so he will have to fly down to his food. The old cage i'm going to clean out and donate to an shop that helps animals be re-homed.

I'm watching him play with his new toy he loves to land on it and make the little bell ring and it's got little things on it he can nibble on to help his beak as for food i'm thinking on trying him on a little bit of egg as a treat but not sure whats the best way to have it sitting for him any advance?

Re: Bad moult

Do not give to much egg. The high protein amount can affect birds differently, some handle it fine others it can cause problems. Never worry if you are just giving a little. The easiest is hard boiled. Just cut the egg up into small bits and give him a piece the size of say the end of your thumb, egg white and yoke. Give it to him and let him eat what he will in say an hour, then remove whatever is remaining. Thinking about that, you will notice, the amount I mentioned is in the amount to him equal to say an entire plate of food for us. Removing it is only a precaution. We, ourselves wouldn't eat egg left on the counter for very long either, it simply goes bad quickly, so a pinch of precaution is always safe. I saw an article about egg salad and potato salad. The study was done over here last summer in regard to summer human activities, such as parties or picnics. They tested potato and egg salad left out on a table in a normal manner people would, defined as big bowls for people to help themselves during the party or picnic. These two salads were fine for one hour left out, but for every 15 minutes over an hour the bacteria of food warming up unrefrigerated exponentially increased. So for every 15 minutes over an hour the bacterial content grew 2x then 4 times then 8 times and so on. Fact of what it is, certain foods go bad at different rates, and egg is one of those. Anything wet and open to the air is a breeding ground for many bad things.